Maxey dominates in Upstate's win over Lipscomb

Junior forward scores 26 points and adds 13 boards and six blocks in 83-71 victory over Lipscomb on Thursday night.

By TODD SHANESYtodd.shanesy@shj.com

It's not often that Torrey Craig, reigning player of the year in the Atlantic Sun Conference, is overshadowed by anybody on a basketball court.But on this night, it was one of his USC Upstate teammates who dominated the action and walked off to chants of “M-V-P, M-V-P.”Junior forward Jodd Maxey reached career highs in points (26), rebounds (13) and blocked shots (six) Thursday night as the Spartans beat Lipscomb, 83-71, at the Hodge Center.“He was a stat-sheet stuffer,” Craig said. “He filled it up in every category.”Maxey came in averaging 7.5 points per game, although that was up to 9.8 in the past six games and twice reaching double-figure rebounds. He's the fifth-leading scorer on the team, which is usually led by Craig (17.1) and Ty Greene (13.0).“Torrey and Ty are our two main guys,” Maxey said. “Everybody else falls in after that. We know our roles. Tonight just happened to be a good night for me.”USC Upstate (13-10, 7-3 Atlantic Sun) stayed in first place, a share of which has been whittled down from five teams to three. Florida Gulf Coast and Jacksonville are up there as well, with preseason favorite Mercer a half game back.It wasn't a good shooting night for the Spartans, who were just 32 percent from the floor and 21 percent (4-for-19) on 3-pointers. But it was an equal struggle for Lipscomb, which shot 33 percent overall and committed 17 turnovers.“When you miss shots, you can still win if you play good defense,” said Craig, who had a quiet double-double, if there is such a thing, with 15 points (3-for-13 shooting) and 10 rebounds. “That's what we did tonight.”With about 12 minutes left in the game, leading by only five points, USC Upstate hadn't made back-to-back shots since early in the first half. But Greene hit two straight 3-pointers, one from each side of the key, to put the Spartans up, 50-40.The one constant was Maxey. He had USC Upstate's first five points and never let up. He scored the next six points after Greene's momentum-grabbing 3s to reach 20, eclipsing the 19 he had against Belmont last January. The 13 rebounds matched the number he put up two weeks ago against Kennesaw State. The six blocked shots was one better than the five he had last week against North Florida. A 59 percent free-throw shooter for his career, he made 12 of 13.“That might be the best game anybody in this conference has had this season,” Greene said. “He played like a man. He was easily the best player on the court tonight.”The emergence of Maxey, who is seemingly gaining confidence with every game, could be just what USC Upstate needs to go from a leading contender to a champion. “Kudos to Jodd,” USC Upstate head coach Eddie Payne said. “That's a great line that he had. That's a Torrey Craig line right there. Now we have a third guy who's done it and that gives us an extra option. Ty and Torrey were 7-for-28 and we won by 12. That's good.”Greene scored 14 points and had four steals. Fred Miller had 10 points, two assists and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench. Ricardo Glenn added eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.USC Upstate will finish this five-game home stand at 5 p.m. on Saturday against Northern Kentucky (5-5 in A-Sun) before going on the road next week to play at Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast. Stetson is just one game out of first place. Florida Gulf Coast took an overtime victory earlier this month in the Hodge Center.